


Origae-6 (David's Symphony)

by Molespeople



Category: Alien: Covenant
Genre: Canon-Typical Fucked Uppedness, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-03 13:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10968216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Molespeople/pseuds/Molespeople
Summary: Sequel speculation to Alien: Covenant.Despite grievous mechanical failure and the resulting deaths of twelve crew members and 47 colonists, the USCSS Covenant ultimately reaches Origae-6 and begins colonization efforts with resounding success.A second wave of colonists is en route and due to arrive in six months





	1. Prologue (Sonata)

Origae-6 

2119

_Despite grievous mechanical failure and the resulting deaths of twelve crew members and 47 colonists, the USCSS Covenant ultimately reaches Origae-6 and begins colonization efforts with resounding success._

_A second wave of colonists is en route and due to arrive in six months._

Tennessee makes his way to the colony’s main medical facility. It’s time for his monthly rite of self-flagellation and he’s only a _little_ drunk. He navigates the pristine corridors with relative ease, but dodging the stampeding tribe of laughing pint-sized hooligans is a little more difficult. He ends up clutching the wall and sounding way too jaded. 

“Seriously, guys, where are your parents?” Here he was thinking it was sort of a rhetorical question. He wasn’t expecting for them to engage him in conversation. 

“My mom says you’re a drunk and we shouldn’t talk to you.” 

It’s not really a winning conversation. 

“Well, your mama would be right. You shouldn’t talk to me.” 

“And my dad said you were crazy and we shouldn’t talk to you.” 

Tennessee knew he should have brought the bottle with him. 

“You guys are doing a swell job of not talking to me.” 

The children stare at him, confused. 

Not exactly the cream of the embryo crop, these ones. 

Tennessee tips his hat and continues down the hallway. He leaves them there, gawping. He’s got a lady to see. 

\---------------------------------- 

Tennessee sits down with a sigh and pulls his worn hat off of his head, rubbing his palm against his forehead. 

“Hey, Daniels. Looking good in that cryotube, girl. Really brings out your, uh, yeah.” He twists his hat in his lap. “Well, things are still a crock of shit. It’s shit that we escaped that shit show of a planet and all that shit on the Covenant and I wake up from hypersleep and you don’t.” 

Tennessee stares at the wall for the bit. 

“We had all these plans, you know. I had Faris. You had Jake. You guys were going to build that cabin. Now, we’ve got, uh, nothing.” Tennessee laughs to himself. “Well, you’ve got that tumor. I’m, um, real appreciative that Walter was able to spot that, you know. It wouldn’t seem fair for you to kick all the ass and then go out like that.” 

He scrunches his hat against the sudden wetness of his eyes. He holds it there for a second, trembling. “Whew. But we’ve got the doctors coming, Daniels. And they’re gonna get you fixed. And then I won’t be alone on this fucking couples cruise of a planet anymore. Uh, I guess there’s Walter, but he doesn’t really count.” 

Tennessee slaps his hat against his leg. “Well, I’ll let you get your beauty rest. It’s sure gonna be a sight to see when you open those eyes of yours. You’re going to be fine, Daniels. You’ll see. Walter has been taking real good care of you.” 

I’ll, uh, see you next month. Same time, same channel and all that.” He stands there for a moment, waiting stupidly for Daniels to wake up. And then he leaves her there in her lonely tomb. 

\----------------------------------------------

The door opens with a hiss, casting light on the cryotube, and the children creep into the room. 

“I don’t think we should be here, Adam.”

Adam rolls his eyes. “There’s nothing to say we shouldn’t be here.” 

“But, we’re not –“ 

“Do you guys want to see a cryotube or not? Besides, she’s practically dead. It’s not like we’re gonna _hurt_ her just by being in the room.” Adam crosses his arms. “You guys are just a bunch of babies.” 

There’s a chorus of disagreement. 

Adam strokes his chin. “Well, if you wanted to prove you’re not babies…” 

One of the girls shouts defiantly, “I’m not a baby.” 

“I dare you to press one of the buttons then, Sarah.” Adam says with a shrug. 

Sarah reluctantly separates from the group. “I’m not a baby. I’m not a baby.” She chants under her breath. 

The cryotube looks so much bigger up close. Sarah clenches her fists and stares at the display, paralyzed with indecision. And then Sarah has enough of Adam’s taunting. She whirls around and yells, “I’m not a baby!” as she blindly presses one of the buttons. For a brief moment, Sarah feels like a god. 

And then the tube starts flashing and there’s this _horrible_ noise. 

Half the group runs away, the others stay to witness her failure. Adam approaches the cryotube, hissing. “Don’t just stand there, Sarah. Try pressing another button.” 

Sarah’s hands start to shake and her eyes fill with tears. She presses at the buttons in a panic and Adam joins her in her frenzy. The noises stop, but then the chamber begins to hiss. 

Sarah and Adam look at each other, fear reflected in each other’s eyes, before they make a break for the door. They run home, chased by their regrets and sick with fear. 

The cryotube continues hissing alone in the dark.


	2. Adagio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniels wakes up.

Daniels wakes and her body is on fire. 

For a split second, she feels lots of things. 

Bittersweet happiness that she’s united again with Jake in some fashion, even if it’s a supremely shitty way to go. 

Relief that any tampering that that synthetic fucker did while she was in hypersleep will be erased in flame. 

And then her whole body clenches and all there is hot, stinking bile. 

It’s a hell of a rude awakening. 

Trembling, she uses the shell of the cryotube for support as she makes her way to storage against the wall. She rummages through the drawers for anything of use, because the only thing she does know is she’s not on the Covenant anymore. 

She finds a trove of sharp things encased in flimsy milky white plastic packaging. Daniels quickly maneuvers them, as fast as she can with shaking hands, to rest between the fabric of her suit and her skin. Immediately, she feels more powerful with her secrets and her sharpness. 

She makes her way to a dark corner of the room, and presses herself against it, makes herself small. Waits. She tries to steady her breath, rein in the adrenaline and fear. 

Her dark eyes take in the contents of the room, looking for signs of David’s creations. 

The door opens with a hiss and she darts for it, knocking somebody or something to the ground. 

Her momentum carries her into one of the corridors outside of the medical bay. Everything is blindingly bright, but clean. There are no signs of blood. 

Daniels resists the instinct to wayfind, and bolts. 

As she runs, she keeps blinking, trying to adjust to the light, trying to think. She tries to recall how the buildings on Origae-6 were going to be constructed. She just needs to get out of this corridor. She hears a familiar sound to her left and lunges in that direction. She manages to squeeze through the doorway after a colonist. 

The loud mechanical hum of the cycler masks her presence, even on the metal walkway. She stays in the colonist’s shadow until they reach a ladder. Daniels slides down, staggering a bit, as she hits the next walkway with a loud clang. 

The sound makes the colonist jump in fright, but Daniels has already moved on, tracing the ducts until she reaches a grate. She’s found her first bolthole. 

Only once she’s clambered in and carefully replaced the grate does Daniels realize she’s now 100% more claustrophobic. 

Her chest clenches as she resists the urge to scream. She puts her head down and focuses on her hands as she crawls. 

She reckons it’s the longest 15 minutes of her life. She keeps expecting to catch some small movement out of the corner of her eye. Or, the next damp patch she crawls through will be acid instead of water. 

Finally, she makes it to a larger section of ductwork and she feels slightly more at ease, even though it feels like her neck, shoulders and back are just one giant knot. 

Daniels lays down as best as she can and covers her eyes with her hands, trying to think of her next plan of action. She should probably continue down the tunnels, try to find more information about where she is, when she is, but she’s not exactly thrilled at the idea of going back into the smaller tunnels. 

She doesn’t know how long she spends in that slightly larger section of tunnel, in the fetal position, muffling her sobs with her fists. 

As she winds her way through, she discovers: 

She is on Origae-6. 

There's no readily apparent evidence that the creatures from that stupid planet are here. 

There's a small contingent searching for her. 

They want to put her back in the cryotube. 

There's no way in _hell_ she's getting back in that thing. 

She also knows that she needs to leave the ducts sooner rather than later. She finds a spanner - something lost in the abyss, fallen down a crack. She clutches it like a talisman. The way it warms under her touch makes her feel alive. 

Her decision is made for her. The duct ends and there's no room to turn around. Daniels peers through the slits of metal. The room is empty of people, there's a blinking terminal in the corner. 

She lowers herself into the room. 

And meets the devil himself. 

David’s head cocks as he watches her descent. 

Daniels pulls herself back into the duct, her forearms straining with the effort. 

She's halfway there, she can see the darkness of the duct that is her salvation. 

And then she feels a touch on her ankle. She kicks wildly. Lands a few blows. She claws at the duct, tries to dig her spanner into the metal for leverage. Anything.

But David’s hand keeps after her, the efforts measured and persistent. And finally his hand clamps around her ankle like a vice. Pulls.

And then she's on the floor. She coughs and rolls back and forth in pain. 

She wields her spanner, swings desperately at his feet. 

David catches her arms. Squeezes and _squeezes_ until she drops it. 

“Don't you want to see your cabin, Daniels?”


	3. Minuet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a cabin by a lake.

Daniels cradles her wrist. “I thought I was sick, _Walter_.” She spits that last word with as much derision and acid she can muster. It’s not an insubstantial amount. 

David stares at her for a long moment, like she's some sort of pinned specimen. The way he's looking at her sends a shiver down her spine, paternal with an incestuous tinge of affection. He's a _pervert_ , a _perversion_ even.

“Come, come now, Daniels. Let us leave this nasty, dark little room. I firmly believe that any imagined infirmity shall be erased once you see your wonder of a cabin.” 

Daniels frowns in confusion. “How’s a bunch of logs going to make me feel better?” 

“Not merely logs, Daniels. There is also a lake.”

Before she can even think about running away, he hooks an arm around her waist and pulls her to her feet. 

Daniels can feel her mouth go tight. Her ankle is a ring of fire, but she can walk. 

As she's paraded through the complex, she runs through the litany of her strengths in her head. _I can walk. I could run. I have a weapon in my suit._

\--------

There is a cabin on a lake. And the life that Daniels once allowed herself to picture with Jake crumbles into dust. She nearly chokes on some emotion as their small vehicle approaches the structure. She can feel David looking at her, measuring her reaction. 

There is a cabin on a lake. One wall is the rustic construction of a couple’s dream. From that wall erupts a sleek monstrosity of glass and metal that hangs over the lake. The water is black. 

David pulls calmly into a driveway of sorts. “There was an excess of material you see. From the dead colonists, from elsewhere. It seemed such a shame to let such resources go to waste. I allowed myself some liberties in its construction. Do you like your cabin, Daniels?”

“I wish you would stop calling it _my_ cabin, David.” She strikes her thigh with a fist for emphasis. “It was never my cabin, it was ours - mine and Jake’s. Maybe for one brief point - mine and Walter’s. It will never be my cabin. It will never be ours.” 

“Why look to the past, Daniels? There's only forward.” 

Daniels squares her shoulders and looks at the perversion of a long-dead dream. “Looking forward, I feel like that one wall there is a little lop-sided.” 

For a split moment, Daniels can see her blow land. David bristles with irritation before shifting into a posture of stiff nonchalance. 

He exits the vehicle and walks around to her side of the vehicle. She briefly thinks of trying to lock the door, scramble for the driver’s seat, run him over. But David whistles, spinning the keys around his index finger, as he calmly approaches. Daniels insteads focuses on extracting her weapon from its hiding place. When the door opens and David reaches for her, ready to shift her about yet again like a sack of potatoes. Daniels slams the scalpel into his chest, twists tries to inflict as much damage as possible in a short amount of time. 

David’s right side sags dramatically, his left arm spasms, releasing her. 

Her first thought is to go for the keys, but they fall in the scuffle. And Daniels has too much adrenaline coursing through her body to try to find them. 

She runs for the cabin. 

She ricochets around the interior like a bullet. She snatches a tablet off a counter. Her eyes dart around the room looking for any other items that could work to her advantage, but the urge to keep moving drives her up the lone ladder. It leads to a loft on the log-encrusted side of the building. 

She can tell with a glance at the contents of the loft that David has been up to no good. There's a window. She presses against it. The few seconds it takes her to open the window feel like an eternity. She tucks the tablet down the front of her suit for safe-keeping and worms her way out of the window and onto the roof. 

Her heart sounds impossibly loud, but as she crouches along the roof, she sees that David is still struggling by the vehicle, hand grasping at the metal in his chest. Daniels eventually keeps moving along the roof, staying low. 

She finds a spot on the roof, away from the edges, as far away from the window as possible. Daniels extracts the tablet from her suit and tries to find something useful. Her hands shake as she presses random buttons on the screen, rapidly scanning the contents of each page. She presses one hand against her side trying to regain control of her fine motor skills, impeded by the flood of adrenaline. 

She nearly drops the tablet against the roof when she sees Tennessee’s name. Her fingers scrabble across the screen in a panic as she presses the button to call him. She presses the button insistently as if it will make the call connect faster. 

She cradles the tablet in her hand. She nearly cries when she sees Tennessee’s face appear on the screen. He looks so much older. 

“Tennessee,” she whispers.

Tennessee doesn't move for a second, blinks blearily at her. And then he's a flurry of motion. “What the fuck!” 

Daniels looks away from the screen, stares at the side of the roof with the window. She waits for a latex-stained hand to appear at the end of the roof. When it doesn't come, she turns her attention back to the screen and Tennessee’s slightly slurred tirade.

“-like the fuck Daniels, you need to get back in that cryotube. Or you're gonna die.” 

“Tennessee,” she hisses urgently. “Tennessee, it’s David, not Walter.” 

Daniels swears she watches the blood drain from his face as he seems to instantly sober. 

“Where are you? You're at the cabin?” 

“Yes, I'm at David’s cabin. I'm on the -” 

Tennessee looks right at the screen. “I will be right there, Daniels. Okay? I'll be right there.” 

This time when Daniels looks up from the screen, there is a hand at the edge of the roof. 

Daniels rises from her crouch and waits. She considers her options.

She looks to the dark water. The part of the cabin that's metal and glass forms an overhang over the lake. 

With one last look at David’s progress, she breaks out into a run. 

Only as she gets closer to the edge of the roof, closer to the water, does she notice the churning, the frenetic movement underneath the surface of the relatively still lake. 

She tries to slow down but momentum carries her over into the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter remaining. I keep writing this for myself, I guess, but I hope that it's at least a decent journey.


	4. Rondo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

Bubbles bloom around Daniels, they stream away from her like offerings to a forgotten god. 

Dazed from the impact, she begins to sink into oblivion. 

And then fear and the burning in her chest kick her into action. For a second she flails in a panic, her body twisting in the water, because salvation is not readily apparent. 

Her foot strikes against something, the bottom of the lake, and she's propelled to the surface, right underneath the cabin. She wraps an arm around one of the central pylons.

The kiss of oxygen appeases the burning in her chest, but does nothing for the fear. She blinks blearily, her eyes stinging. Daniels stares at the surface of the now still water. Her hand trembles as she wipes water off of her face. 

And then she freezes.

Because now in the distance, a black shape mars the mirror-like surface. Daniels stabs her legs downward, trying to touch the bottom, struggling to get more traction. She keeps her eye on the shape and uses her arms to pull herself backwards. She moves slowly, tries to muffle her movements. And then finally her foot makes contact. 

Daniels keeps the same pace, keeps her eye on the shape, makes her way patiently to shore. The water is so much colder now. Her teeth begin to chatter. 

Miserable with cold, she notices the shape is slightly larger, and she tries to force her stiff limbs into action. She wades, runs towards shore. 

She has no idea what she's going to do when she gets there. If she gets there.

She resists the urge to collapse on land and she keeps running. She looks backward quickly and the scene is horrifying. David stands on the roof, his arms outstretched. 

And Daniels knows beyond a doubt that she's going to die because the creature that emerges from the lake is the size of the cabin. It resembles the creature she fought off with an axe, but instead of legs, there are a segmented tentacles,with serrated edges. 

Daniels struggles not to fall to her knees. “Oh. _Fuck_.” 

“Do you see the Wonder, Daniels?” David calls as if he's on a stage and not a roof. 

Daniels is sore and stiff and cold and tired. She raises her middle finger in reply.

Then there's a hissing noise and the lake erupts in flames. The heat forces her back from the shore.

The creature screams in anger. Another hissing sound and the flames spread to the creature. It begins to flail, screeching in anger and pain. 

A drop ship swings into view. The fire spreads to the cabin. And it’s stupidly satisfying to watch the flames climb higher and higher. 

The drop ship circles towards her, landing. Daniels runs towards it -sudden relief giving way to bone-deep exhaustion. A ramp drops and Tennessee walks down, weapon slung around one shoulder. 

“Did I get that fucker or did I get that fucker, Daniels?” 

A tired laugh forces its way out of Daniels’ throat. She grabs his cheeks and smooshes them. “You got that fucker, Tennessee.” 

Tennessee slings an arm around her. “It’s good to see you, Daniels.” 

Daniels swings an arm around him. “It’s good to see you, Tennessee.” 

They watch the fire. It feels like a conclusion to a drawn-out nightmare. 

And then the creature, still alight, rears up out of the water in the final throes of death. And then they're knocked to the ground. And there's a hole is punched through Tennessee’s gut. 

Daniels looks on in horror as small silver teeth appear in the newly-created wound. 

Tennessee coughs and squirms on the ground. Tennessee struggles to push the weapon off his shoulder. 

Daniels shakes her head in horror. “No!” She sobs. 

“You're only doing,” Tennessee grunts, hands hovering over his gut wound, “‘me a solid, Daniels. That's all it is.” 

Daniels sobs and reaches for the gun, dodging the lunging of the creature in his abdomen. She screams in frustration, in sadness.

She grabs the gun and rises to her feet. 

Tennessee moans, hands clenching around his gut. “Do it, Daniels. Just me and Faris now,” he says, his voice slurred with pain. 

Daniels shakes as she pulls the trigger. Flames engulf Tennessee. 

The creature dies. 

Daniels nearly stumbles under yet another burden. Numb, the flamethrower falls to the ground. She stands there for a long while.

And then eventually she notices movement out of the corner of her eye. David crawls from the wreckage of the cabin, slightly charred, leaking latex. 

Daniels swings around to stare at him before looking to the drop ship. She stomps up the ramp. 

\------------

David watches on from a distance, expects the drop ship to fly away.

And then Daniels comes down the ramp, a new gun on one shoulder, an axe tucked in her once-white suit. She walks towards the ruins of the cabin, towards David. As she passes the smoking remnants of a once-glorious creature, she unleashes a spray of bullets. All David can do is witness her wrath as she emptied clip after clip.

Finally, Daniels appears above him. Her dark eyes are glowing, reflecting the destruction around her. She pulls out the axe and begins to _hack_ away.

Any defensive measures he tries to implement are battered into submission. Finally, satisfied. She drops the axe and falls to the ground. Her suit is now white once again. 

Something in David clicks. “Do you feel better now, Daniels?” 

David is not fazed by the appearance of bile. 

Daniels wipes her mouth with a shaking hand. 

“I am going to watch you die, you bastard.” 

For a long while, there is no words, only the crackling of flame.

David moves his head in her direction. 

\--------------

Daniels looks away from the flames as she senses movement from David. If she closed her eyes, the image of flames, of Tennessee's corpse would be tattooed on the inside. David is now looking at her. And then he starts speaking.

“Have you ever held a dandelion, Daniels? Those small puffs of white that explode into action with a single breath.”

He waits for her to answer. He looks so expectant and disappointed. It kind of reminds her of her dad.

Driven by some misguided filial piety, she responds. “Yes.”

David pauses, white trickling out of his mouth, his jaw makes a horrible clicking sound as he chokes down the excess. He stares at a far off point. “Do you remember Daniels, when you found me on that planet. And you saw the ship. The ship that Elizabeth and I shared.” 

He stares at her expectantly, like a patient and yet condescending professor. His hands open and shut against the mess of his stomach. 

Daniels looks at her hands in her lap. Her fingernails are caked with white. "Yes." 

“Why,” he gulps, “why did you think -- think there was ever only one?” 

David jerks violently and then stills. 

Daniels kneels there for a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go! Thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what this is. Just probably getting it out of my brain. Sorry!


End file.
